This blog post with its whipped foot scrub formulation is all about taking care of our feet year round. We tend to overlook our feet in our day-to-day beauty routines, yet they do so much for us. With the changing of the seasons in the northern hemisphere as we edge into autumn, and with the days of wearing pretty, open-toe sandals nearly over, we thought it the right time to talk about best practice for 365-day foot care.
Why use a foot scrub?
It can be really tempting to neglect your feet if they are not on display, but if you take good care of them all year round, you can help prevent the build-up of hard skin and callouses.
Callouses are the body’s way of forming a layer over cracked skin to prevent any further injuries. These areas of hard skin can be uncomfortable and could lead to bigger issues in the future. Remember, regular foot maintenance is far less time consuming than storing up foot care for a long session once in a while, or even next summer!
Whether you are in the southern hemisphere preparing for your feet for display in sandals or in the northern hemisphere pulling on boots, there is always a reason and a season for giving your feet some TLC. There are few things more indulgent than a Sunday foot soak, scrub and moisturise to prepare you for the week ahead.
The formula we share below is one of the regular formulation challenges we set our students. It is a luxurious, whipped foot scrub with an autumn-inspired scent and ideal to make for your next session of foot pampering. You might be interested also in our other scrub and polish formulas for feet and body:
How to make a natural foot mask for lazy Sunday mornings
How to make a butter scrub
How to make a green tea and lemon body polish
How to make a tuberose and neroli whipped body butter
Our Foot Scrub Ingredients
The Formula Botanica Education Team has created an apple crumble foot scrub that can soften and nourish the feet. Before we show you how to make this foot scrub, we first want to walk you through the ingredients we are using so that you understand their overall purpose in this natural foot scrub formulation. Knowing precisely which ingredients to include and why is an important skill that our students develop during their diploma courses in organic skincare formulation and as they design their own cosmetics’ products.
The Foot Scrub Base: Butters & Oils
This whipped foot scrub has a base of butters and oils whipped together like a body butter and it includes exfoliating powders to provide the scrub effect. The butter we have chosen is shea butter because when whipped, it has an amazingly fluffy texture that is reminiscent of whipped cream. For inspiration on alternatives, take a look at these 5 Amazonian butters that are ideal for organic skincare formulation.
To our shea butter we added coconut oil and castor oil along with Cetyl alcohol. Coconut oil is a firm oil so it can provide nourishment without thinning out the texture of our butter too much. Castor is a very viscous oil that acts as a “dirt magnet” and can help to clean the feet as well as soften them. We have added Cetyl alcohol to our formulation to improve the skin feel of our scrub and to reduce any greasy residue that may be left after rinsing.
Exfoliants
We have used a variety of scrub particles in various sizes to really buff the surface of the skin. The Rapadura sugar has the largest particles and gives the scrub a light caramel scent. Sugar also contains glycolic acid which also helps to exfoliate the skin.
Next up are the jojoba beads which come in various sizes and are made by hydrogenating jojoba oil. This gives them a very uniform, round texture which means that they are less likely to create micro-tears in the skin.
The ground pumice stone has a much finer texture which buffs the surface of the skin to a much smoother finish. It feels the most abrasive of the three exfoliants despite being the finest. The softest is the apple extract powder which doesn’t offer much exfoliation but contributes to the scrub’s scent.
Do we need a preservative?
As this scrub is likely to be stored in an open-necked jar in a steamy bathroom where it will come into contact with wet fingers, we have added a preservative. Although this is an anhydrous product, it will allow for the inclusion of a small amount of water-based preservative. Think of it as preserving the water that will be added during the product’s use.
Give your hardworking feet some TLC with this luxurious @FormulaBotanica whipped foot scrub formulation. #footscrub #bodyscrubs #naturalformulation Click To Tweet
Our Formulation: Apple crumble whipped foot scrub
By following the step-by-step method in our formula below, you will be able to create 200 grams of luxurious, pampering foot care.
| Phase | Ingredients | Weight (grams) |
| A | Shea butter | 60.00 |
| A | Coconut oil | 28.00 |
| A | Castor oil | 20.00 |
| A | Cetyl alcohol | 5.00 |
| B | Apple powder | 20.00 |
| B | Pumice powder | 20.00 |
| B | Rapadura sugar | 20.00 |
| B | Jojoba beads | 20.00 |
| C | Vitamin E | 4.00 |
| C | Cinammon Leaf essential oil | 1.00 |
| C | Preservative eco | 2.00 |
| Total: 200.00 |
Formulation Note: Please note that there are strict dermal limits for the amount of essential oils that can be used when formulating leave on and rinse off products, we teach these in depth in our Diploma in Organic Skincare Formulation.
Method of Manufacture
- Oils & Butters
Gently melt all of the phase A butters and oils together in a Bain Marie or water bath. Then, place the blend in the fridge to cool to below 40C.
- Mix Exfoliants & Powders
Meanwhile, weigh out the phase B powders into a glass bowl and mix them together flattening out any lumps with a spatula.
- Blending
Add the phase C ingredients and the vitamin E to phase A and stir well. Then, put the oil blend in the fridge until it starts to solidify.
- Whipping
Then, remove from the fridge and whip the butters on high speed with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.
- Add Exfoliants & Powders
Fold in the phase B powders and place back in fridge for a few minutes.
- Second Whipping Phase
Ensure the blend is fully cooled. Then, whip the blend again until light and fluffy. Finally, transfer to a container and label.
Optional Ideas: Crumble topping
Mix 0.75g of oats with 0.25g of ground cinnamon. Sprinkle over the scrub for decoration.
Whipped foot scrub Formulation Tips
- Try using different coloured jojoba beads to give your product different hues or try using coloured fruit powders.
- Play around with different scent combinations. In this scrub we have used cinnamon essential oil to suit our autumnal theme, but there are endless options such as lavender, grapefruit or frankincense.
- If you don’t have a blender, don’t worry, you can still make this scrub without whipping. It just won’t have the same fluffy texture.
- Experiment using different ratios of butters or even add waxes to change the texture.
Now it is your turn to make your own whipped foot scrub. Leave us a comment below to tell us how you got on and especially if you customised our formula with your own choice of butters and scents.
FAQs
Foot scrubs contain heavier oils and butters which are excellent in nourishing and moisturising dry skin on heels and soles. Natural oils and butters like castor oil and shea butter can also act as magnets removing ingrained dirt. Foot scrubs also need exfoliants to slew off and smooth hard skin and calluses.
Skincare exfoliators are usually powders made of tiny, abrasive particles and are designed to gently remove dry skin on the epidermis. Natural exfoliants include pumice stone or dried, finely-ground kernals, pips, seeds and stones of plants, especially fruit. Jojoba beads, which are spheres of natural, solid wax are good exfoliators and a biodegradable alternative to plastic microbeads.
Foot scrubs are ideally part of your all-year-round foot care routine. They help reduce the build up of hard skin and calluses that can be uncomfortable and be time consuming to deal with if left to summer months only when our feet are on display more.
Join us at Formula Botanica, where tens of thousands of students and followers take our free and paid online courses to learn how to formulate organic skincare and haircare for themselves or to sell.
If you want to learn more about how to make scrubs, butters, balms and other fantastic facial and body skincare products, check out our Diploma in Organic Skincare Formulation. Have you pre-registered yet? Just sign up to stay informed about all our organic skincare formulation courses. In the meantime, try out a sample class to find out more about learning with Formula Botanica.
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Brooke Medhurst is a Tutor at Formula Botanica. Find out more about the Formula Botanica Team.
